Cambridge English: TKT

TKT: Module 2: Appropriacy of aims

Teacher’s notes
Overview: These practice materials by Think about:
Russell Whitehead are designed to help with How many things do you do without
the Module 2 exam, in particular with the an aim? What happens when you do
‘Planning and preparing a lesson or sequence something without an aim? You might go for
of lessons’ section. These materials focus on a walk, with the aim of getting to a particular
lesson aims – main, subsidiary and personal place, having some exercise or simply passing
aims, the specification of aims and the factors the time. Are all three of these things aims? Is it
influencing the choice of aims. possible to walk without any aim at all?
Part of Exam: Module 2 (Lesson planning and
use of resources for language teaching):
Planning and preparing a lesson or sequence Think about:
of lessons. If you say to an architect: ‘Please
design me a building’, the architect will
Materials: one copy of the worksheet
respond with questions, for example, What do
per student
you want the building for? Where is it going to
Time: 30–60 mins be built? What other questions will an architect
ask? How similar are these questions to the
questions that you as a teacher need to ask?
Notes for teacher trainers
Focus attention on the idea of aims by getting
trainees in pairs or small groups to think of all Think about:
the things they have done in the last 24 hours. Imagine you want to go on holiday.
They should then say what the aims were of What aims do you have in this
these activities. situation? How will you achieve these aims?
What steps will you have to take? What
Get the trainees to think individually about various
connections are there between those aims and
levels of aim. Ask them questions, and have them
the kinds of aims you use in your teaching?
note down individual responses. What is your main
aim in life? In your career? Of doing this course? Of
today’s lesson? They can then discuss their ideas
in groups.
For reading and listening, get trainees to list all
the acts of reading and listening they do in an
average week, and categorize these according to
the purpose, or aim.
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 Cambridge English: TKT

TKT: Module 2: Appropriacy of aims

Stage 1: Considering

Answer key
a) Trainee’s own answers
b) Trainee’s own answers
c) 1. B
2. D
3. C
4. A
d) Suggested answers:
1. P
 robably not – not very important in communicative terms.
2. Yes.
3. Yes.
4. No – already known.
5. Y
 es – as long as they aren’t too many examples.
6. Y
 es – as long as the content is reasonably challenging.
e) Suggested answers:
Depending on the particular class, learners, etc, the procedures could be suitable for all the aims.

Stage 2: Experimenting
f) Suggested answers:
1. This is a main aim. It is only suitable for advanced learners.
2. This is a main aim. It would be suitable for either level, depending on how it was treated.
3. This is a subsidiary aim. It would be suitable for either level, depending on how it was treated.
4. This is a subsidiary aim. It is probably more suitable for advanced learners, although if done simply
it could benefit elementary learners.
5. This is a main aim. It is probably only suitable for advanced learners.
6. This is a subsidiary aim. It is more likely to be suitable for advanced learners, although if done
simply it could benefit elementary learners.
g) Suggested answers:
1. D : The repeating of words (items of vocabulary) through the game will recycle them.
2. B
 : Marking the stress will help learners to think about (to be aware of) this pronunciation feature.
3. A
 : Working together to use the words directly after being presented with them should provide
useful practice.

Stage 3: Reflecting
h) Trainee’s own answers
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EXAMS / TKT/ Module 2: Appropriacy of aims

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 Cambridge English: TKT

TKT: Module 2: Appropriacy of aims

Stage 1: Considering

Worksheet
a) There are different kinds of aims. Aims are, essentially, answers to questions. The most important
questions in teaching are:

1. What do the learners need to be able to do?

2. What does this ability consist of?
3. How can they build their ability to do this?
4. What do I need to improve in my teaching (to help them achieve this)?

b) Think about a lesson you have taught or observed recently. Make notes of your answers to questions
1–4 in a) above.
1.
2.
3.
4.

c) Look at the following aims, (a–d), for a lesson plan. Now match the aims to the appropriate
category (1–4).

A to improve the clarity of spoken instructions

B to practise using short answers in social conversations
C to revise rules for forming short answers; to focus on intonation; to practise
speaking in semi-controlled situations
D to construct short or tag answers correctly; to use intonation appropriately

1. relates to the main aim of the lesson

2. relates to the subsidiary aim(s)
3. relates to the procedures used to achieve this aim
4. relates to the teacher’s personal aims

d) Some aims are more useful than others. Decide if the aims below are useful for the class described
in the previous exercise or not.

Class: Teenagers
Level: Intermediate

Frequency: Three hours per week

By the end of the lesson learners will:

1. be better able to use the past perfect simple and continuous tenses.
2. have had oral practice in making social arrangements.
3. have had written practice in using going to to express future events.
4. be better able to use the present form of the verb to be.
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 Cambridge English: TKT

TKT: Module 2: Appropriacy of aims

5. have had oral and written practice in using phrasal verbs with up.

Worksheet
6. be better able to ask for and give directions.

e) How do procedures connect with aims? Which procedures or activities would NOT be suitable for
each of these aims?

1. To build rapport among a class of new elementary learners.

A. a mingling activity
B. a short questionnaire
C. a game of name bingo

2. To introduce the present perfect tense.

A. teacher explanation with timelines
B. audio of friends discussing experiences
C. flashcards of people in different situations

Stage 2: Experimenting

f) Most of the time, the aims you use will depend on the level of the learners you are working with.
Label the following aims, according to whether they would be suitable for elementary learners,
advanced learners or either elementary or advanced learners. Are they main aims or
subsidiary aims?

1. To read and discuss the content of authentic newspaper articles.

2. To practise making polite requests in the context of foreign travel.
3. To practise using suffixes to form different parts of speech.
4. To consolidate lexis for describing personality.
5. To practise being interviewed for jobs.
6. To build awareness of schwa and practise its correct pronunciation.

g) Now try this part of a sample exam task. Match the learner activities 1–3 with the appropriate
teaching aims A–D. There is one extra aim that you do not need to use.

Teaching aims

A 
to practise using new lexis
B  to raise awareness of pronunciation features
C  to assess lexical range
D  to recycle vocabulary

Learner activities

1 Learners play word bingo with words learnt during the course so far.
2 Learners mark the stress in words they have learnt in the lesson.
3 Learners work in pairs to write stories using words the teacher has just presented to the class.
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EXAMS / TKT/ Module 2: Appropriacy of aims

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 Cambridge English: TKT

TKT: Module 2: Appropriacy of aims

Stage 3: Reflecting

Worksheet
h) There is a saying: If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Do you think this is always true in teaching
and learning? Do you think it is truly possible for one teacher to formulate learning aims for all the
learners in a particular class? Do you think a lesson without any aims would be worth attending for
the learners?






Set yourself a target

During the next week, concentrate on the concept of aims. Think about aims in both very general
and very specific terms. Make sure that you identify your aims in any teaching you do, and also in the
journeys you make, etc.

Come back to this later

The more you think actively about aims, the easier and clearer your thinking becomes. If you follow
the target above, you will probably find that you become better able to formulate aims for your
teaching. Look at these materials again in a month’s time, and see if you have become more ‘fluent’ at
constructing lesson aims.

Don’t forget:
If someone fires a gun or drives a car without any aim, the results are usually pretty bad.

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